I Would've Cried A Long Time Ago
by kawaii-kirei
Summary: Sakura reflects on her strength, and bits of her past. Kinda Sakura-angst... I think... Anyway, hints of SakuSasu, and SakuIno in a friendly way.


_Title: I Would've Cried A Long Time Ago  
Author: kawaii-kirei "KK"  
Rating: G  
Pairing: slight SakuraIno. Slight yuri, but it really depends on your point of view anyway. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and never will. *sniff* Sad, ain't it? XD_

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**I Would've Cried A Long Time Ago**

_I was always treated as the young one. They considered me as the baby of the group. I never really did fend for myself, so I'm not really surprised. I admit, I **am **just a small, shy, little wallflower who always cries in a middle of a crisis. I'm not even allowed to cry, but I do. _

_I'm the type of person who thinks she knows what she wants. I'm the type of person that only gets motivated when I have someone to protect. But other times, when the only person I can protect is myself, my body won't move. _

_No energy comes close to me. _

_So I can only depend on others to save me from the hands of Death. I'm ashamed. Sasuke defended his own self and lifted his soul from the shadows of evil all on his own. Sure some people helped. Sure, Naruto helped. Sure, I helped. But Sasuke did everything just for himself, and he succeeded. If he was me, I would've cried a long time ago. Just cried my heart out until I fall asleep in exasperation and wait for others to rescue me. But he… he rescued himself on his own. _

_And Naruto… All his life, he's been alone. He was a person who never met his own parents, who never had anyone acknowledge him. But look at him now. He acts so carefree and cheerful on the outside, even though he's breaking on the inside. If that was me, I would've cried a long time ago. _

_And Hinata… she loved Naruto so much that she was willing to do anything for him. She even mustered so much determination just because she was thinking of him. But even though Naruto never did noticed her like how she does to him, she still kept on believing. If I was in Hinata's shoes, I would've cried a long time ago. _

_Sure I did the same for Sasuke, but… in Hinata's case, it's different. Sasuke's the type who rarely shows any emotion so it's no surprise if he shows no love to others. But Naruto… he knows how to show what he feels. _

_Then here comes Ino. Ino Yamanaka. The person I thought that was my rival. When I announced that I liked Sasuke, I didn't know that she did, too. But did she say anything? No. She just continued being my friend, even if she **did **try to get to Sasuke first at that time. But she still stood by my side. And guess what? When I found out that she liked Sasuke as well, I broke our friendship and I considered her as my rival, while she… she knew how much I liked Sasuke yet she still acted as if it was nothing. Truth be told, **I**, Sakura Haruno, broke Ino's friendship. _

_She kept her own feelings to herself, just to keep our friendship going on. And I broke it. If I didn't promise that I wouldn't let Ino get ahead of me, I would've cried a long time ago. _

_The very thing that I really regret is the case about Ino. I miss her. I want our friendship back. Look... I'm crying again... And I though that __my eyes have ran dry years ago. _

_Maybe next time I won't cry._

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Sakura Haruno fell with a sigh on her bed, her diary resting on her stomach, and her pen on the bed beside her. An arm came up to cover her forehead as she stared at the ceiling of her room with half-lidded eyes, tear tracks visible on her cheeks.

Sighing once more to herself, she stood up, closing her notebook. She walked towards her nightstand, then opened the drawer before throwing her notebook in. She picked up her pen, did the same thing she did to the notebook, then closed the drawer shut.

She then walked to her mirror, wiping away the tear tracks with a slight smile. "Maybe next time I won't cry, huh?"

There was a rustle and slightly tapping to something that sounded like wood. She turned around, and raised an eyebrow at the two figures on the window. "What brings you here?"

Sasuke sat like a frog on the window sill with his cheek resting on his hand. He was still glaring daggers at Naruto. Naruto hung by the window, with only his arms to carry his whole weight. He was also glaring, but he then turned to Sakura with a grin, "You're much more late than Kakashi-sensei, you know that?"

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Okay, so I lost track of time. Now let's go...?" Naruto nodded and Sasuke gave a slight _Hn. _before hopping on rooftop after rooftop. Sakura and Naruto followed, bickering slightly, stopping only when Naruto turned to argue with Sasuke.

Sakura smiled to herself, watching the two boys go at each other's throats, _Yep, I definitely won't cry next time._

++ || ++

Ino Yamanaka fumbled with her thoughts as she hopped over another rooftop. She stopped then moved to one edge. Jumping down, she took hold of a windowsill, then hoisted herself up and into the room. She looked around. _Did Team 7 have another mission? There's no Sakura around._

She sighed to herself and was about to leave when a slightly ajar drawer caught her eye. She walked across the room, and opened it, taking a notebook in her hand. "I remember this." She mumbled, "Sakura's diary."

Her real reason at being here was because she wanted to apologize and have Sakura as her friend back. But since the said girl wasn't here, there was no harm to roam around and reminisce, right? Ino bit her lip. _I know it's not nice to invade, but... I can't help it. _She flipped to the last page and read the whole entry.

Her lips curved up into a smile. She returned the notebook back to it's own place, and smiled a little wider. "Since it would be finding another dog again, the mission can wait. Our friendship is more important anyway." And she left the room through the window, scanning the village for a certain pink-haired girl.

**~ owari ~**

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_Author's Notes: Oh crap, that sucked. @_@;; Ack... Err... review...? ^^;;_


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